The University of Vermont is ranked 40th on a list published August 7 on BusinessWeek.com of the 50 U.S. colleges whose bachelors degree graduates earn the highest salaries. UVM is the seventh ranked public university on the list.

Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard head the list. UVM finished ahead of such well known schools as UCLA, Emory, Boston University and the University of Texas at Austin. There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States.

UVM's high ranking was based on the salaries of the upper tier, those at the 90th percentile, of "mid-career" alumni with 10 or more years of experience in their career or field. UVM alumni in that category earn $194,000.

In addition to mid-career professionals — UVM alumni in this group earn $82,700 at the median level — the survey also tracked "starting employees," those with 5.5 years or less of experience. UVM alumni in that category earn $44,800 at the median.

To create the ranking, BusinessWeek used data compiled by PayScale.com, a private company that gathers salary information in a variety of fields. Data used to produce the study were collected from employees who successfully completed PayScale's employee survey.